Presenters
Susan kicked off this session by describing what the CDS is. It’s been around for over 10 years, includes data from over 800 institutions and allows members to use it to:
- Study their IT org
- To benchmark against past performance
- To look at trends over time
- To start gathering and using metrics
- To have data available “just in case”
TOP IT ISSUE #4
Improve Student Outcomes Through an Institutional Approach that Strategically Leverages Technology. Data shared today come from module 3 of the CDS
Student Success Technologies Maturity Index
These 6 measurements are set by subject matter experts, and are measured against a 5 point radar scale
- Leadership and governance
- Collaboration and involvement
- Advising and student support
- Process and policy
- Information systems
- Student Success analytics
Maturity Index
- Weak
- Emerging
- Developing
- Strong
- Excellent
Deployment Index
- No deployment
- Expected deployment
- Initial deployment
- targeted deployment
- institution-wide deployment
Goal
Provide higher ed institutions with a reliable, affordable, and useful set of tools to benchmark and improve the cost and quality of IT services, improving the value and efficiency of IT’s contribution to higher education.
Process
Complete Core Data > order and configure reports > receive and use reports. It takes between 40 and 70 hours to complete, but data is saved for auto-filling the following year. This speeds the re-entry process considerably.
You can also use the reports for benchmarking against other institutions. You can create your own, and some peer groups are pre-provided for you.
Achieving the Dream’s Institutional Capacity Framework
Montgomery County Community College (near Philadelphia), about 13,000 students, participating in CDS for about 13 years. Celeste then went on…In the past, we used CDS more on the justification of new staff. We used to look at numbers of computers for students, but we tend to look at those numbers less today. What’s really helped us recently are in how we ask questions about technology. While you only HAVE to complete module 1, I recommend you dip your toes in some of the other modules. I’ve used SurveyMonkey to extend my reach and gather additional information from other folks, and then moved it into CDS. The CDS is really helping to drive our own IT strategic plan.
Lorain Community College (near Cleveland), about 12,000 students, participating in CDS for 2 years. Our enrollment is highly tied to local industry; local business cycles make make our completion rates look terrible! CDS is the most valuable way I have to find out the various elements of IT in the higher ed world. It really helps to discover the things that change from year-to-year.
Top 10 IT Issues Sneak Peek
Coming out in January in EDUCAUSE Review. IT security is the #1 issue. Three dimensions that will be discussed in the upcoming report:
- Divest: change the way you design, deliver and manage IT services. Eliminate old processes and silos!
- Reinvest: to run state-of-the-art technology services, you need to double down on some things, like information security. Hiring and retaining good talent, along with restructuring that talent to meet the changing needs of delivering IT services. The ability to change funding models to meet those needs is also important.
- Differentiate: institutions are now able to apply technology to strategically meet their goals and differentiate themselves from other institutions. Ability to apply analytics against strategic objectives is hugely valuable to help provide feedback on where we are and what we need to do to improve.
